Amazon unveils its first seaweed farm against climate change

The American company Amazon announced Thursday that it will finance the creation of its first commercial-scale seaweed farm, located in a wind farm off the coast of the Netherlands, which is expected to produce at least 6,000 kilos of fresh seaweed in its first year, in order to fight against climate change.

In a statement, the company assured that this farm, which will be located between offshore wind turbines, has the objective of “test and improve the cultivation of seaweedwhile also investigating the potential of kelp farms to sequester carbon”, seeking to become “a farming model” of algae worldwide.

Amazon, which will allocate 1.5 million euros to create this farm, argued that “if it continues to grow, the European algae farming sector could remove millions of tonnes of CO2 from the atmosphere per year by 2040″, so it has great potential to help combat climate change and improve biodiversity.

“These algae can also be used to make packaging, food and clothing.”he pointed.

The project, which is expected to be operational at the end of this year, has been baptized as North Sea Farm 1 and will be managed by a consortium of scientific researchers and partners from the seaweed industry, led by the non-profit organization North Sea Farmers (NSF).

Amazon assured that it will provide the necessary investment to launch the innovation and construction phase of a 10-hectare farm, which is expected to produce at least 6,000 kilos of fresh seaweed in its first year, and, in addition, the grant will help to analyze and improve farm production performance.

“At the same time, scientists and researchers will be able to study the potential of seaweed farms to remove carbon from the atmosphere, and model the implications and consequences of large-scale seaweed farming. The conclusions of these studies are expected to contribute to the development of the industry”, explained the company.

The Director of Sustainability Amazon in Europe, Zak Wattsrecalled that marine algae “they could become a key tool in removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, but are currently cultivated on a relatively small scale in Europe”.

For his part, the director of Agriculture and Technology of nsf, Eef Brouwersconsidered that, if North Sea Farm 1 were to be replicated throughout the North Sea, “up to 85,000 full-time jobs could be created in the European seaweed sector, taking advantage of available space” in wind farms.

Source: EFE